Oscar Wilde was a prolific and spontaneous storyteller who once declared, “I cannot think otherwise than in stories.” Here are a handful of his shorter works that demonstrate his range, versatility, and skill as a storyteller, too often overshadowed by his reputation as a dramatist, critical theorist, and novelist.
Wilde shows his wit in the social parodies “The Canterville Ghost,” “Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime,” “The Sphinx without a Secret,” and “The Model Millionare.” In “The Portrait of Mr. W.H.,” he identifies the mysterious dedicatee of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. Finally, the collection is rounded out by a selection of well known fairy tales, including “The Happy Prince,” “The Nightingale and the Rose,” “The Selfish Giant,” and “The Devoted Friend.”